St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-03-05
SOLD FAlTHFUL.o
One of the Remarkable Geysers of
YeIlO NstOEc ark.

One of the Remarkable Geysers of
YellO Wstonc ark.
Letter in San Francisco Chronicle.
Old Faithful, the pet geyser of the upper
basin, is situated only few rods from the
hotel. You hear it splashing in the night,
and, if you have kept your reckoning, can
! actually tell the hour-he is so egular in
his action. Never was a geyser better
named. Once every sixty minutes, with
out fail, he asserts himself. The
somewhat. as if he were always
ready TO spout His is generous mouth,
six feet by two. and twelve feet above the
level of the plateau; but the face of him is
! also diStended, as if fixed in the act
of blowing. and the slope of the lips
covers an area of 145X215 feet. You may
walk up to the mouth of Old Faithful and
look down his throat if you like. There is
nothing visible but passage full of water.
You may drop in handkerchief or bit of
cloth and watch il become saturated and
sink from view; then you can walk few
rods away and sit down under the bushes,
{ and, II 1t is near the hour OF eruption. YOUR
| wisest way is to do this Immediately. Not
/ lhat there Is any particular danger
in delay, for even had Old Faith
| ANi bSStil lucfG WOulu NC
| time to run out of reach; but it is 50 pretty
| 10 watch him at a safe distance, and then
it is only from distance that one gets any
idea of the hight OF the geySer column.
Now. be looking 1t your watch you will
| note that ii is time for the old fellow to
| begin; he does not vary ten minutes one
way or the other during the four and
twenty hours. With watch i'll hand YOU
listen for the preliminary rumble. There
it is! A kind of choking sound i'll his
| threat and Z mOanin G as of intestinal dis
turbances; this is followed by splutter
and stopping over that is like a futile at
| tempt.
For moment you lose confidence; you
begin to fear that his day is Over-for every
geyser has his day. and sooner or later that
day comes to an end-and this eruption is
bound to be failure. His reputation is at
stake, and he knows it, for after a half
dozen abortive diSchargeS-ab0rtive when
compared with what he has done and can
do when he is in good form, but such as
would make fame and fortune for a
| spring outside of the Yellowstone re-
gion-after Tuning, and fretting, and
| catching his breath. and retching for
! three or four minutes he gets mad and
bang! he is off, with column of water that
curls outward on every side,in magnificent
capital and wells itself in clouds Of whrling
vapor. Higher and higher it climbs, as if
| endeavOrng to Guido himself. You see
he is redeeming his reputation, until at last
| its topmoSt wave seems actually to catch
an azure beauty from the sky
and to leave part of its diamond
dust aloft, there to be absorbed by
the sunshine. In five minutes ne is salts
fed; he has exhausted his enthusiasm and
| ar hQ
quietly, but majestically. and with great
dignity, subsidies with an audible sigh. He
steams vigorously in little while and pants
| as from sheer fatigue, but shortly he is as
| quiet as if he had never done anything out
of the common. and he does it so easily and
so naturally that it is hard to believe that
he has.
Just before the eruption the water in Old
| FaithfuPS throat stood at temperature of
| zoos Fahrenheit. Now it is down to 170o
Fahrenheit. That little freshet yonder is
| the surplus. the overflow from this small
mouth, now Fastening to the river in the
head OF the valley. Here IS the handker
chief you dropped INTO the geyser before
the eruption. 1t has been thrown thirty
feet from the lips Of the crater; had the
lodged fifty or 100 feet farthur
|
for the knot you thoughtfully tied in it
perhaps there would not have been threads
enough of it left together to warrant identi-
tication. Notwithstanding the regularity
| which Old Faithful attends to his duties, he
is seldom twice the same in appearance. The
slightest wind sweeps the descending water
| to considerable distance and spreads it in
IN any graceful and beautiful pattern;Some
times he resembles colossal ostrich plume
of the most dazzling whiteness. The real
feather is not lighter nor more susceptible to
the influence of the winds. There are
many geysers within the range of Old
Faithful. Sometimes it seems almost as if
a rivalry must exist among them. for one
will start off with grand flourish, and no
sooner has it got under good Roadway than
another. which perhaps has been anXiously
watching for some hours. and seems to be
obstinately refusing to do its duty-no
sooner does the one call for admiration than
the other bursts magnifcently upon the
sight, and fairly outdoes itself in the brill
fancy of its action.